Reading Is Fundamental

During the summer of 2009, Maroon PR worked on behalf of Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) to help raise awareness for several noteworthy events and campaigns across the country, with a strategy that generally included media outreach and securing celebrity involvement for these events.

As part of their annual "Book A Brighter Future" national campaign with Macy's, RIF hosted 26 spelling bees in major cities across the country to promote awareness and announce the exciting success of the campaign, RIF’s largest annual fundraising initiative. The 2009 campaign was held at Macy’s stores nationwide from July 1–August 31, 2009. The Spelling Bees were designed to excite and engage customers and their children around a nationwide celebration of literacy while bringing awareness to RIF’s Back-to-School campaign.

In addition to these events associated with the "Book A Brighter Future Campaign," Reading Is Fundamental teamed up with Communities In Schools New Orleans and the National PTA to launch "United We Read", an initiative in support of the “United We Serve” national effort launched by President Obama to engage more Americans in serving their communities during the summer.

Beginning the week of August 17, approximately 2,500 children in six schools in New Orleans received free books, as well as a United We Read backpack that includes parent and family resources from PTA, RIF, and CIS. Throughout the course of the school year, the CIS–New Orleans RIF program will provide these children with a total of 7,500 free new books.

Maroon PR’s role in Reading Is Fundamental’s wide array of events in the summer of 2009 was to orchestrate media relations for all initiatives and secure celebrity involvement for the Book A Brighter Future Spelling Bees and “United We Read” initiative in New Orleans.

Maroon PR worked with RIF to establish a PR plan that included garnering media attention and securing celebrity involvement for these initiatives. Maroon PR utilized contacts nationwide and secured celebrity judges at various Spelling Bees across the country, as well as to secure judges for the Spelling Bee Finals in New York City on September 26, 2009. Maroon PR utilized many of their contacts in the entertainment industry nationwide to help secure judges throughout the country. Some of the celebrities included CNBC Reporter Darren Rovell and famed children's book author Jarrett Krosoczka (NYC), 2006 America's Got Talent winner Bianca Ryan (Philadelphia), Deputy Mayor Bob Allen (Dallas, TX), among others. Bianca Ryan and WNBA superstar Kym Hampton were secured as judges for the Finals.

To help launch RIF's "Book A Brighter Future" campaign with Macy's, Maroon PR secured officials from both Macy's and RIF to partipate in NASDAQ's Closing Bell on June 30, 2009. In addition, throughout the summer of 2009, Maroon PR worked with media nationwide to gain coverage of the campaign from various outlets in print, radio, television and online, securing coverage in outlets such as The Wall St. Journal, CBS Radio in New York, Time.com, The Arizona Republic, The Wilmington News Journal, and several others. For the entire campaign, Maroon PR secured more than 2 million impressions and the "Book A Brighter Future" campaign ultimately raised $6.5 million. It was the largest amount raised in the four-year history of the campaign.

Furthermore, Maroon PR worked with "United We Read" to secure celebrities and media coverage for the New Orleans event. Harry Shearer, actor and comedian famous for his days on Saturday Night Live and as the voice of many characters in the TV Show The Simpsons, was secured to be the headliner of the event at Fischer Accelerated Academy. The Times-Picayune, as well as local NBC and ABC affiliates turned out to cover the event.